Department of Homeland Security
Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report
for 02 November 2006
Current
Nationwide
Threat Level is
For info click here
http://www.dhs.gov/
Daily Highlights
• The News & Observer reports that all 81 emergency sirens within a 10−mile radius of North
Carolina's Shearon Harris nuclear plant were inoperable Monday morning, October 30, and
again Tuesday morning, October 31. (See item 1)
• CNN reports a Lufthansa plane headed to Frankfurt, Germany, with more than 300 people on
board bumped an empty Continental Airlines Boeing 757 on Tuesday, October 31, at Newark
Liberty International Airport. (See item 14)
• Reuters reports an explosive device blew out a thick, plate−glass window Tuesday evening,
October 31, at the Silicon Valley, California, headquarters of PayPal, the online payments unit
of eBay Inc. (See item 41)
DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report Fast Jump
Production Industries: Energy; Chemical Industry and Hazardous Materials; Defense Industrial Base
Service Industries: Banking and Finance; Transportation and Border Security; Postal and Shipping
Sustenance and Health: Agriculture; Food; Water; Public Health
Federal and State: Government; Emergency Services
IT and Cyber: Information Technology and Telecommunications; Internet Alert Dashboard
Other: Commercial Facilities/Real Estate, Monument &Icons; General; DHS Daily Report Contact
Information
Energy Sector
Current Electricity Sector Threat Alert Levels: Physical: ELEVATED, Cyber:
ELEVATED
Scale: LOW, GUARDED, ELEVATED, HIGH, SEVERE [Source: ISAC for the Electricity Sector (ES−ISAC) −
http://www.esisac.com]
1. November 01, News & Observer (NC) — Siren test fails for Shearon Harris nuclear plant.
All 81 emergency sirens within a 10−mile radius of the Shearon Harris nuclear plant were
inoperable Monday morning, October 30, and again Tuesday morning, according to Progress
Energy, the plant's operator. The simultaneous failure of all sirens within the nuclear facility's
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emergency planning zone was a first in the 19−year−history of the plant in southwestern Wake
County, NC. The siren system at Shearon Harris is tested every 12 hours by a computer. The
tests indicated that the device that signals all the sirens, called a "repeater," had failed to
activate Monday and Tuesday, Progress Energy said in a notice to federal regulators. Progress
Energy officials are repairing the malfunction. Plant operators can manually override the device
to activate the sirens during an emergency.
Source: http://www.newsobserver.com/104/story/504909.html
2. November 01, Reuters — FERC approves incentives to expand New England power grid.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) this week authorized an increase in the
return on equity for the owners of the ISO New England transmission grid to encourage needed
expansion of the system. FERC said ratepayers would benefit because the present network
leads to congestion costs and reliability problems, including involuntary load shedding. In a
report this week, Fitch Ratings calculated congestion boosted New England consumer costs by
about $788 million from 2000 to 2005. The expansion of the transmission infrastructure should
help minimize these costs, the Commission said. The Commission determined that a base−level
return on equity of 10.2 percent was appropriate.
Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?type=gov
ernmentFilingsNews&storyID=2006−11−01T150419Z_01_N01327004_R
TRIDST_0_UTILITIES−FERC−NEWENGLAND.XML
3. October 31, Associated Press — Pipeline corrosion may be worse than first reported. The
Anchorage Daily News says corrosion along an oil pipeline at Prudhoe Bay is worse than first
reported. The paper reports a test report on the three−mile pipeline shows it had more than
5,400 bad spots. Those spots include 176 places where corrosion might have chewed through
half the pipe wall, or more. BP originally disclosed 16 anomalies in the pipe. In those areas, the
company said, losses in wall thickness was between 70 and 81 percent. Repair or replacement is
required if there is over an 80 percent loss.
Source: http://www.ktva.com/alaska/ci_4580412
4. October 31, Utility Automation & Engineering — Dramatic changes needed to meet 2025
electricity needs: study. The electric power system of 2025 will have to fuel everything from
robotic home security guards to "tele−immersion" −− a next generation concept for
telecommuting that mimics physical presence at a distance −− according to "Forecasting the
Future of Electricity," released by the Galvin Electricity Initiative. To meet these needs, the
U.S. electric power system must: Become highly efficient, from generation to end−use; adapt to
allow consumers control of their energy service; provide reliable, digital quality power to all
users who require it for everything from virtual schools to in−home small manufacturing; have
the capacity to meet increasing plug loads as electricity replaces other uses of fossil fuels; and
incorporate smart technologies that mitigate the effect of outages and attacks. The authors
mapped out four potential pictures of what the U.S. will look like socially and economically in
2025; the technologies that will play substantive roles in each of these scenarios; and the energy
supplies and innovations necessary to fuel them. The team then mapped out the required
electric technology to fuel each and the overarching factors that must shape the electric power
system of the future if it is to truly meet consumer need.
Source: http://uaelp.pennnet.com/display_article/276053/22/ARTCL/non
e/none/Dramatic_changes_needed_to_meet_2025_electricity_need s:_Galvin_study/
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Chemical Industry and Hazardous Materials Sector
5. November 01, Orlando Sentinel — Ammonia leak prompts road closure. One person
suffered minor injuries Tuesday, October 31, following an ammonia leak at United States Cold
Storage located at John Young Parkway and Shader Road in north Orange County, FL. The
building was evacuated, and emergency workers shut down a section of Shader Road.
Source: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl−cfbrief
s01_1206nov01,0,417575.story?coll=orl−news−headlines−orange
6. November 01, Associated Press — Employee killed at Tyson plant due to ammonia gas
leak. One worker was killed and another hospitalized after an ammonia gas leak at the Tyson
Foods Inc. plant in South Hutchinson, KS. A 51−year−old man died and a 55−year−old man
was hospitalized with chemical burns after the accident Tuesday, October 31. The men were
refrigeration workers. They came in contact with ammonia gas after a refrigeration line broke
outside of the main plant, Tyson spokesperson Gary Mickelson said in a written statement.
Source: http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/breaking_news/15901984
.htm?source=rss&channel=kansas_breaking_news
7. November 01, Associated Press — Ammonia gas leak in central China kills 1, forces
evacuation of 20,000. An ammonia gas leak at a factory owned by the Huangmailing
Phosphorous Chemical Industry Group Company in central China killed one person, injured six
and forced the evacuation of about 20,000 residents on Wednesday, November 1. The leak is
the latest in a string of pollution incidents to hit China.
Source: http://www.kcbs.com/topic/ap_news.php?story=AP/APTV/National
/a/i/China−AmmoniaLeak_a_i_−−−−−
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Defense Industrial Base Sector
8. October 31, Reuters — Air Force said to seek $50 billion emergency funds. The U.S. Air
Force is asking the Pentagon's leadership for $50 billion in emergency funding for fiscal 2007
−− an amount equal to nearly half its annual budget, defense analyst Loren Thompson of the
Lexington Institute said on Tuesday, October 31. The request is expected to draw criticism on
Capitol Hill, where lawmakers are increasingly worried about the huge sums being sought "off
budget" to fund wars, escaping the more rigorous congressional oversight of regular budgets.
Thompson, who has close ties to U.S. military officials, said the big funding request was fueled
by Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England. England told the services in an October 25
memo to include the "longer war on terror," not just the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, in their
emergency requests. "This amount of money is so much bigger than the Air Force would
normally request...it hints at a basic breakdown in the process for planning and funding war
costs," said Thompson.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp−dyn/content/article/2006/10
3
/31/AR2006103100621.html
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Banking and Finance Sector
9. November 01, Guardian (UK) — Online ID theft booms as credit levels increase: study. The
average Briton is a tantalizing $108,000 target for identity scammers, according to a study.
Thanks, in part, to a boom in the credit being offered by financial institutions and retailers,
criminals who steal personal details are in for a bigger payday than ever before. But draining
bank accounts and credit card balances amounts to only $17,000 of the total estimated value of
a stolen identity. Scammers can make $76,000 by using an existing good credit rating to apply
for more credit, while counterfeit passports and sham marriages are worth $6,000 apiece and a
counterfeit driving license has a street value of $1,000. The report, commissioned by online
identity management firm Garlik, estimated that ID thieves were fleecing more than 100,000
Britons a year, and this would increase to 200,000 in 2010. "Criminals are responsible for 75
percent of credit card fraud, and are rapidly moving into identity theft," said Tom Ilube of
Garlik.
Note: Currency amounts in this article were converted from Euros to the nearest dollar.
Source: http://money.guardian.co.uk/news_/story/0,,1936252,00.html
10. October 31, Associated Press — China approves anti−money laundering law. China's top
legislature approved a law Tuesday, October 31, strengthening the country's ability to combat
money laundering as part of efforts to tackle financial crimes. The law requires financial
institutions and some nonfinancial ones to keep detailed records of transactions and report large
and suspicious transactions to authorities. The law defines money laundering crimes as those
transactions related to drug trafficking, organized crime, and terrorism, as well as bribery and
fraud. The law also stipulates that China will cooperate with other governments against money
laundering. Chinese authorities will exchange intelligence related to suspected money
laundering activities with foreign governments and international anti−money laundering
organizations.
Source: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/061031/apfn_china_money_laundering.h tml?.v=1
11. October 30, Net Security — PandaLabs warns users of the mass−mailing of false job offers.
PandaLabs has detected the mass−mailing of messages with lucrative job offers, aimed at
recruiting "mules". In Internet slang, "mules" are people used to launder stolen money, mainly
originating from phishing or other online fraud. In this case, the message supposedly comes
from an antique shop in Poland looking for sales reps to handle transactions outside the
country. In exchange, the message claims the reps will receive lucrative commissions.
According to PandaLabs, this is a large−scale attack, using at least ten Internet domains, and at
least seven Web servers in countries including Korea, the U.S., Canada, Belgium, and Spain. In
reality, the work of the mule involves receiving bank transfers and in exchange for commission
on each operation, sending the money received to addresses provided by the criminals.
Source: http://www.net−security.org/secworld.php?id=4343
12. October 26, Computing — Shift in motivation behind cybernet crime. Silicon Valley FBI
4
agent Shena Crowe operates on the front line of computer fraud, and is aware of a definite shift
in motivation behind Internet crime. There has yet to be a sentencing of anyone charged with
masterminding a botnet, the latest and most virulent cyber threat, says Crowe. "The lack of
reporting of cyber crime is one of the biggest challenges we face in law enforcement, and in
effect we are pulling threads on a spider web and seeing what moves," she says. Yet from these
small leads Crowe has discovered some large−scale profit−driven data thefts in the past year
and a half. "The attacks are generally insider directed, carefully targeted and the methods are
mostly combined," she says. "The insider direction is certainly becoming a major component in
the crime we are seeing, and the data is then sold." The insiders are working as part of
organized crime gangs whom she says present the most challenging development in Internet
fraud. According to Crowe, to warrant a prosecution there has to be a $50,000 minimum in
losses. That can be an accumulated loss between several victims, or in an international case, it
must be about four times that figure.
Source: http://www.vnunet.com/computing/analysis/2167566/cyber−crime watch
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Transportation and Border Security Sector
13. November 01, Boston Globe — Safety margin for Boston tunnel was smaller than most. The
Big Dig tunnel ceiling that collapsed in July was designed with a smaller margin of safety than
other tunnel ceilings around the country, leaving nothing to prevent heavy concrete slabs from
falling on a passing car when ceiling bolts fell out, according to a preliminary report sent to key
federal officials on Tuesday, October 31. The Interstate 90 connector's drop ceiling was held up
by steel hangers, which were suspended from bolts that had been glued into the tunnel roof. But
there were no beams attaching the ceiling to the walls, and the ceiling was constructed with half
as many ceiling bolts as in the original design. ''No redundancy was built into the ceiling in the
event the hangers failed,'' the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) states in its report.
The report describes significant lapses by on the part of both the state government and private
companies involved in the $14.6 billion Big Dig project. A lot of work remains to determine
what happened and who is responsible. NTSB officials plan to interview more workers who
built the ceiling, and lab analysts are testing the epoxy and how it was installed.
Source: http://www.boston.com/news/traffic/bigdig/articles/2006/11/0
1/safety_margin_for_tunnel_was_smaller_than_most_us_says/
14. November 01, CNN — Planes bump at New Jersey airport. A commercial plane with more
than 300 people on board bumped an empty plane Tuesday, October 31, at Newark Liberty
International Airport. A tip of the wing of Lufthansa Flight LH403, headed to Frankfurt,
Germany, brushed the right winglet of a second plane, said Lufthansa spokesperson Jennifer
Urbaniak. A wing on the Lufthansa Boeing 747 was damaged, she said. In a statement,
Lufthansa said there were 291 passengers, three infants and 17 crewmembers on board. No
injuries were reported. The passengers were taken off the plane. The second plane was an
empty Continental Airlines Boeing 757, which was being relocated to a remote overnight
parking spot "and was in a stationary position" when the contact occurred, the airline said in a
statement. The Lufthansa flight was canceled. The Federal Aviation Administration will
investigate, said Alan Hicks, spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Source: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/10/31/plane.crash/index.html
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15. November 01, Washington Post — Nationwide, airport waits get worse. Nationwide, wait
times during peak hours at airports increased to just over 13 minutes on average last week from
about 11 minutes at the end of last month, according to the Transportation Security
Administration (TSA). Two local airports surpassed those times. The average peak wait time at
Washington Dulles International Airport rose to 25 minutes this month from about 14 minutes
in September. Waits at Reagan National Airport were about five minutes longer this month than
the 10−minute average TSA officials recorded in September. TSA officials said they thought
the increased wait times stemmed from passengers carrying more bags onto airplanes since the
gel and liquid ban was eased last month, forcing screeners to take more time to inspect luggage
for potential explosives. Many passengers also remain confused about what they can take with
them on planes, causing further delays as screeners throw out bottles of water and other banned
items, they said Worried that wait times might lengthen during the holiday season, as
inexperienced travelers go to airports, TSA officials said they were launching a publicity
campaign to remind passengers about the revised restrictions. The TSA is also evaluating
staffing levels and how travelers are informed about restricted items before they reach security
checkpoints.
TSA Website: http://www.tsa.gov
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp−dyn/content/article/2006/10
/30/AR2006103001208.html
16. November 01, Reuters — Tampa airport reopens after partial evacuation. Operations at
Florida's Tampa International Airport returned to normal on Wednesday, November 1, after it
was partially evacuated when a suspicious item was spotted, an airport spokesperson said. She
said one concourse at the airport, used by JetBlue Airways Corp., AirTran Airways, Frontier
Airlines Inc., and Continental Airlines, was shut down for a little over an hour before federal
security officials gave the all−clear. She said the airport was fully operational again as of about
10:30 a.m. EST.
Source: http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=domestic
News&storyID=2006−11−01T163815Z_01_N01343877_RTRUKOC_0_US−US
A−SECURITY−TAMPA.xml&WTmodLoc=USNewsHome_C2_domesticNews−5
17. November 01, KTRK TV (TX) — Security breach forces shutdown at Bush Intercontinental
Airport. According to airport authorities, a man went through a security checkpoint at
Terminal C this afternoon. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) screeners asked him
to stop. The man didn't respond and kept going. TSA effectively shut down the terminal.
Nobody was allowed in or out of the secured area, and the pedestrian train was stopped. As of
2:30pm, the situation had been resolved and everything was back to normal. The man was taken
into custody.
Source: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=local&id=4717445
18. October 31, Department of Transportation — Federal grants for Iowa, Minnesota, and
South Carolina to help cut construction timeline for projects. Iowa, Minnesota, and South
Carolina will be the first states to each receive a $1 million grant under the Federal Highway
Administration’s (FHWA) new “Highways for LIFE” program to help develop new approaches
that can cut construction schedules in half, FHWA Administrator J. Richard Capka announced
on Tuesday, October 31. The program encourages states to build roads faster, while making
6
them longer lasting and less costly to maintain. The program stresses innovation and promotes
novel operational and contracting approaches that can shave time off construction projects.
Capka noted that Iowa will use the grant to fund the reconstruction of an interchange in Council
Bluffs using prefabricated bridge sections that can be made away from the roadway and
installed overnight, sparing drivers months of onsite roadwork. Minnesota will reconstruct a
portion of Highway 36 in Minneapolis/St. Paul using a full−road closure for five months to
complete the project faster. South Carolina will use a “no excuses” clause in a construction
contract for meeting the specified completion date for a bridge project in Kingstree.
Source: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/fhwa1306.htm
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Postal and Shipping Sector
Nothing to report.
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Agriculture Sector
19. October 31, Ag Professional — Kansas State researcher finds new wheat virus. Kansas State
University scientist Dallas Seifers has found a virus never before detected in wheat. Although
the virus was found in multiple locations around the state last spring, including university fields
and privately−owned land, there was no indication that it had a significant yield impact on the
2006 wheat crop, he said. The virus, which Seifers is calling triticum mosaic virus, seems to
have affected cultivars that have been developed for their resistance to wheat streak mosaic, he
said. There are still many unknowns about the disease, Seifers said, including what impact it
might have on yields in coming years, how widespread it was in 2006 and what sort of weather
conditions it favors.
Source: http://www.agprofessional.com/show_story.php?id=43910
20. October 31, Associated Press — Another herd found infected with bovine tuberculosis.
Bovine tuberculosis has been found in a seventh beef cattle herd in Roseau and Beltrami
counties of northwestern Minnesota, the Minnesota Board of Animal Health said Tuesday,
October 31. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is working out the details of destroying the
animals in the newest herd and compensating the owner. While officials are tracking the
movement of animals in and out of the operation, the board said the herd is small and has had
minimal movement. The case turned up as part of a program that calls for testing all herds
within 10 miles of an infected beef herd or an infected white−tail deer.
Source: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/15893643.htm
21. October 27, Capital Press — Virus stunts onions in Oregon and Idaho. Treasure Valley
onion growers in Malheur County, OR, and southwestern Idaho suffered their heaviest losses
ever this year due to a virus spread by onion thrips. Iris yellow spot virus significantly reduced
sweet Spanish onion size and thus overall yields in the famous growing region, said Oregon
State University Malheur County Extension agent Lynn Jensen. Jensen said this is the worst
pest−related setback he's seen in onions in his 20 years in Malheur County. Yellow spot virus
7
was first detected in the U.S. in 1989 in Treasure Valley, and has been gradually taking its toll
on onion crops there ever since. During the last few years, except for 2004, it has been
particularly damaging. Other than preventing plants from growing normally and producing a
large quantity of colossal and super colossal onions, the virus, which is spread to plants when
thrips feed on them, does no damage to the onions themselves, Jensen said. Yellow spot virus
has been a problem in other U.S. onion−growing areas and then subsided, Jensen said. "Eastern
Oregon and Idaho seem to be the hardest−hit areas."
Source: http://www.capitalpress.info/main.asp?SectionID=67&SubSectio
nID=792&ArticleID=28313
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Food Sector
22. October 31, Associated Press — Salmonella outbreak appears over, health official says. A
federal official says the salmonella outbreak that sickened dozens of people in 19 states appears
to be over, while investigators remain unsure how it began. There have been no deaths, but 171
people have fallen sick. Officials revised downward the tally by one case on Tuesday, October
31, following further investigation. The Food and Drug Administration says reports of illness
peaked in late September, suggesting the outbreak is now over.
Source: http://www.abc6.com/engine.pl?station=wlne&id=22636&template
=breakout_story_local_news.shtml&dateformat=%25M+%25e,%25Y
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Water Sector
23. October 31, Tucson Citizen (AZ) — Tucson Convention Center leaking tainted water for
three months. A series of water leaks in the ventilation system that serves the Tucson
Convention Center and Police and Fire department headquarters has been pouring 1,000 gallons
of water tainted with a suspected carcinogen each day into the ground nearby. The leaks, in the
pipes that carry water for heating and cooling to nearby city buildings, were discovered in
August, but have not been pinpointed and may have existed since 2003. As many as 29,000
gallons of water treated with sodium nitrite were lost every month, said Ron Lewis, director of
the city's General Services Department. Sodium nitrite, a common food additive, is used to
prevent pipes from corroding. When combined with oxygen, it becomes sodium nitrate, said
Nancy Petersen, deputy director of the city's Environmental Services Department. High levels
of the compound in drinking water have been linked to cancer and can hamper infants' ability to
get oxygen into the bloodstream, she said. Officials said there are no city wells in the area and
the drinking water downtown is piped from other areas of town.
Source: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/31017.php
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Public Health Sector
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24. November 01, Washington Post — CDC shifts vaccine−data focus. Federal health officials
have decided to forgo gathering detailed data on whether children in 22 big cities are receiving
recommended immunizations and instead will survey teenagers, who are the target of several
new vaccines. The decision is drawing protests from local health officials, who say the
soon−to−be−lost information is essential to their efforts to make sure that infants and toddlers,
many from poor families, are protected against childhood infections. Officials at the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) who made the decision said they are reluctantly
choosing between two worthy goals. "It was really a very, very difficult decision. But we think
we have to have information about adolescents because it is such a growth area," said Lance
Rodewald, director of the CDC immunization services division. Historically, most vaccines
have been administered to infants and young children and only few to adolescents and
teenagers, but that is changing. Under recently approved guidelines, pre−teenage girls should
receive the new human papilloma virus vaccine; college freshmen should have the
meningococcal meningitis vaccine; and most teenagers should receive boosters for tetanus,
diphtheria and pertussis, as well as the chickenpox vaccine if they did not receive it as children.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp−dyn/content/article/2006/10
/31/AR2006103101302.html
25. October 31, Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (MN) — Pandemic vaccine
rationing proposal favors the young. In a worst−case influenza pandemic, without enough
vaccine for everyone, who should stand closer to the front of the line: a 25−year−old water
utility worker or a healthy 75−year−old? Public health officials may have to make difficult
decisions such as this, and a Minnesota health ethics group, in publishing recommendations
about pandemic vaccine allocation, hopes to get conversations going now, rather than during a
crisis. The vaccine allocation recommendations released last week by the Minnesota Center for
Health Care Ethics (MCHCE) look much different from the ones proposed by the federal
government. The vaccine rationing recommendation in federal pandemic plan is aimed at
saving the most lives, and might favor the healthy 75−year−old over the 25−year−old utility
worker. The Minnesota group’s approach is designed to prevent not only deaths due to
influenza, but also deaths related to public infrastructure breakdowns. It is weighted toward
those whose immune systems are more likely to respond strongly to a pandemic flu vaccine. As
such, it would put the 25−year−old utility worker ahead of the 75−year−old.
MCHCE recommendations: http://www.stolaf.edu/mnethx/PanFluReport.pdf
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/panflu/ne ws/oct3106ethics.html
26. October 31, Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy (MN) — WHO: H5N1 cases in
Turkey targeted children, youth. A recent World Health Organization (WHO) report on 10 of
the 12 confirmed H5N1 avian influenza cases that occurred in Turkey last winter adds to
evidence that children and youth may be particularly susceptible to the infection. The disease
struck only children younger than 16, even though their parents had probably been exposed to
the same probable source of infection, infected poultry, according to the Friday, October 27,
issue of the World Health Organization's (WHO) Weekly Epidemiological Record. "To some
extent, this reflects the same age distribution observed globally, where 50.5 percent of cases
occurred among people aged WHO report: http://www.who.int/wer/2006/wer8143.pdf
Source: http://www.cidrap.umn.edu/cidrap/content/influenza/avianflu/
news/oct3106turkey.html
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27. October 31, Canadian Press — New bird flu variant doesn't seem to pose greater human
health risk: WHO. The emergence of a new variant of H5N1 avian flu viruses doesn't appear
to raise or lower the risk the virus poses to humans, officials of the World Health Organization
(WHO) and the Food and Agriculture Organization said Tuesday, October 31. Representatives
of the United Nations agencies charged with animal and human health issues held a
teleconference Tuesday to discuss the discovery of the new subgroup of viruses. The new
variant, called a Fujian−like virus, was reported Monday, October 30, in the scientific journal
The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. But the pattern of human cases with
these viruses is similar to that seen with viruses spreading in Indonesia, or those that caused
human infections in Vietnam in 2004 and 2005, said Michael Perdue of the WHO. The variant
is responsible for recent human cases in China and Thailand. "If you look at the mortality rate
and the disease, the Fujian−strain infections are no different," said Perdue, a senior scientist
with the WHO's global influenza program. "So there's no reason to lead us to believe that this
sublineage is acting any differently than any of the other sublineages in terms of affecting
humans."
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/cp/health/061031/x103112.html
28. October 31, Cornell University — Findings could foil two potential bioterror agents. Two
lethal and easily transmitted viruses −− both potential bioterror agents −− may soon be much
less dangerous, thanks to research led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College in New
York City. Hendra and Nipah viruses are related, newly recognized zoonotic viruses that can
spread from their natural reservoir in fruit bats to larger animals −− including pigs, horses and
humans. The mode of transmission isn't clear, but is thought to be relatively easy −− either by
close contact with an infected host or by breathing in the microscopic pathogens. Infection
often leads to a fatal encephalitis, and there is currently no effective treatment against these
illnesses. However, researchers at Weill Cornell say that by tweaking a peptide (protein) related
to a third pathogen, parainfluenza virus, they may be able to prevent Hendra and Nipah virus
from infecting human cells. The findings are published in this month's issue of the Journal of
Virology.
Abstract: http://jvi.asm.org/cgi/content/abstract/80/19/9837?maxtoshow
=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&author1=moscona%2C+A.&titlea
bstract=Viral+Peptide+Prevents+Deadly+Hendra%2C+Nipah+Viruse
s+from+Infecting+Cells&searchid=1&FIRSTINDEX=0&fdate=10/1/20
06&resourcetype=HWCIT
Source: http://news.med.cornell.edu/wcmc/wcmc_2006/10_31a_06.shtml
29. October 27, National Science Foundation — Ecologists to study West Nile virus, malaria,
bird flu, and other infectious diseases. Over the past 20 years, unprecedented changes in
biodiversity have coincided with the emergence and re−emergence of numerous infectious
diseases around the world. To address this problem, the National Science Foundation (NSF)
and the National Institutes of Health have announced funding for eight projects under the
Ecology of Infectious Diseases (EID) program, a multi−year, joint−agency effort now in its
seventh year of funding. "Researchers supported in the EID program are advancing basic theory
related to infectious diseases," said James Collins, NSF Assistant Director for Biological
Sciences, "and applying that knowledge to improve our understanding of how pathogens spread
through populations at a time of increasing global change." Interdisciplinary projects funded
through the EID program will study how large−scale environmental events alter the risks of
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viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases emerging in humans and animals.
Source: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=108141&org=NSF &from=news
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Government Sector
30. November 01, Washington Post — Boy, 15, arrested after 'bottle bomb' blows up near
school bus. A 15−year−old Rockville, MD, student was arrested Tuesday afternoon, October
31, after a homemade "bottle bomb" he was about to bring onto a school bus exploded as a
teacher discarded it, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service officials said. A teacher at
Mark Twain School in Rockville who saw something suspicious approached the student −−
whom authorities did not identify because he was charged as a juvenile −− as he was getting
ready to board a school bus. As the teacher seized the two−liter bottle, its contents were
activated by the movement, leading to an explosive chemical reaction. No one was injured.
Most students who attend Mark Twain have special education needs, such as learning
disabilities and behavioral problems.
Source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp−dyn/content/article/2006/10
/31/AR2006103101195.html
31. November 01, Associated Press — Traffic briefly blocked near White House. Traffic was
blocked off several streets near the White House briefly Tuesday evening, October 31, after a
man outside the Treasury Department falsely claimed to be carrying an explosive, the Secret
Service said. No explosive was found and the man was taken into custody for a mental
evaluation, Secret Service spokesperson Kim Bruce said. He was not immediately charged and
his identity was withheld pending the outcome of the evaluation. Applying standard security
measures, the Ellipse south of the White House, 15th Street between Pennsylvania Avenue and
Constitution and E Street between 15th and 17th streets were closed to vehicles and pedestrians
until 10:49 p.m., Bruce said.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006−11−01−white−house−t hreat_x.htm
[Return to top]
Emergency Services Sector
32. October 31, WALB−TV (GA) — New dispatch program could save lives. In Valdosta, GA,
the police department is implementing closest car dispatch, a program they believe will shave
precious moments off their response time. "That means if you call 911 and somebody's
breaking into your house, instead of the old method where the dispatcher will send a beat
officer or officers in your area, the dispatcher can look to see marked and unmarked cars and
the closest one gets the call," said Captain Brian Childress of the Valdosta Police. The
department has placed Automated Vehicle Locator computers in all patrol cars. These
computers allow dispatchers to see the location of each marked and unmarked car and send the
five closest cars to the caller's location.
Source: http://www.walb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5614809&nav=5kZQ
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33. October 31, Bloomberg — Chile's quake−frightened citizens train for tsunamis. Chile, one
of the world's most earthquake−prone nations, is conducting its biggest drill ever along the
country's populated coast, training residents to survive a temblor large enough to trigger a
tsunami. Officials in the seaside city of Valparaiso are deploying audio speakers on Tuesday,
October 31, to simulate the rumble of a quake and the rush of a tidal wave sweeping through
the streets, said Jorge Enriquez, chief of civil protection at the state's National Emergency
Office. Actors, some yelling and weeping, will add a sense of reality, Enriquez said. During the
mock quake, residents of Valparaiso and the seaside town of Concon will learn the best routes
to escape to higher ground from an incoming wave, to move on foot to avert traffic jams, leave
roadways clear for the disabled, and to stay calm, Enriquez said. About 4,000 to 5,000 people
will participate in the drill in Valparaiso, involving the public on a large scale for the first time
rather than just police, fire, and emergency responders, said Guillermo de la Maza, the
provincial director of civil protection and emergencies.
Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aCMMUUlN
P3so&refer=japan
[Return to top]
Information Technology and Telecommunications Sector
34. November 01, eWeek — Microsoft confirms critical Visual Studio zero−day. An "extremely
critical" vulnerability in Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 could put users at risk of remote code
execution attacks, the company confirmed Wednesday, November 1. The software maker
issued a security advisory with pre−patch workarounds and warned that the flaw is already
being used in zero−day attacks.
Microsoft Security Advisory: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/advisory/927709.ms
px
Source: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2048968,00.asp
35. November 01, Associated Press — ICANN: Multi−lingual system could permanently break
the Internet. The body that oversees global Internet functions warned Wednesday, November
1, that a mistake in a creating multi−lingual address system could "permanently break the
Internet." The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) made the
warning at a United Nations−organized conference on the future of the Internet being held in
Greece. More multi−lingual Internet is a key issue at the forum, with future Web growth
predicted in developing countries where the Latin alphabet is often unfamiliar. "ICANN
expects that these final tests and discussions will reach a resolution by the end of 2007," CEO
Paul Towney said in a statement. "But this is no simple task. If we get this wrong we could very
easily and permanently break the Internet." Experts at the forum have also warned that mixed
use of alphabets in Internet addresses could allow cybercriminals a greater opportunity to post
imitation Websites typically created for illegally collecting personal banking details. The
four−day Internet Governance Forum ends Thursday, November 2.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061101/ap_on_hi_te/greece_un_in ternet_governance
36. October 31, U.S. Department of Defense — Department of Defense: Extremists use
sophisticated Internet assaults. A group calling itself “Electronic Jihad” has begun an Internet
program that bombards Websites it considers anti−Islamic with spam messages until they shut
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down. It is the most sophisticated Web−based program known to be used by terrorists to date.
Electronic Jihad are “Internet activists” who “support the Lebanese and Palestinian resistance,”
and who claim that “thousands...are participating” in the attacks, according to Pentagon policy
reports. These activists are promoting their cause on various Websites and calling on other
militant radical Islamic groups to join them. Government and business Websites around the
globe could be threatened by these tactics. In addition, Pentagon policy experts warn that
participating in Web−based assaults are low risk for groups wanting to support the militant
Islamic cause and could lead to more extreme actions in the future.
Source: http://www.defenselink.mil/home/dodupdate/enemy−update/docs/
10−31−06_Nature_of_Enemy.pdf
37. October 31, Federal Times — Hackers −− from locals to Chinese −− challenge data
security. From the Chinese government to homegrown hackers, groups are increasingly
targeting agencies’ networks, data security experts claim. “The Chinese are in half of your
agencies’ systems,” Alan Paller, research director of the SANS Institute, told attendees
Monday, October 30, at the Executive Leadership Conference. Paller cited 2005 reports that
hackers using servers in China stole designs for an aviation mission−planning system for Army
helicopters, and, on one night in 2004, found vulnerabilities in computers at the Defense
Information Systems Agency, the Naval Ocean Systems Center in San Diego, the Army
Information Systems Engineering Command at Fort Huachuca, AZ, and the Army Space and
Strategic Defense Installation in Huntsville, AL. Officials believe the attacks were sponsored
by the Chinese government. Paller argued that many information security metrics established
by the Federal Information Security Management Act do not measure how well agencies
protect data. Agencies must report the number of systems for which they complete reports on
security vulnerabilities, but most reports are written by consultants and never read by top
managers, Paller said. Agencies are also required to count the number of officials who complete
security awareness training, but do not have to measure what skills they acquired, he said.
Source: http://federaltimes.com/index.php?S=2323081
38. October 31, Security Focus — Sophos Antivirus multiple denial−of−service vulnerabilities.
Sophos Antivirus is prone to multiple denial−of−service vulnerabilities. A remote attacker may
trigger these issues to deny service to legitimate users.
Vulnerable: Sophos Anti−Virus 5.2.1; Sophos Anti−Virus 5.2; Sophos Anti−Virus 5.0.4;
Sophos Anti−Virus 5.0.2; Sophos Anti−Virus 5.0.1; Sophos Anti−Virus 4.7.2; Sophos
Anti−Virus 4.7.1; Sophos Anti−Virus 4.5.12; Sophos Anti−Virus 4.5.11; Sophos Anti−Virus
4.5.4; Sophos Anti−Virus 4.5.3; Sophos Anti−Virus 5.1; Sophos Anti−Virus 4.05; Sophos
Anti−Virus 4.04.
Solution: Currently, Security Focus is not aware of any vendor−supplied patches for this issue.
Source: http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/20816/references
39. October 30, IDG News Service — Tricky new malware unnerves security vendors. A tricky
malicious program has become more prevalent in spam, but experts don't know what its
creators plan to do with it. Many vendors are rating the malware −− called "Warezov,"
"Stration" and "Stratio" −− as a low risk. But they also say that it is tricky to deal with. The
malware is a mass−mailing worm that affects machines running Microsoft Corp.'s Windows
operating system. When the malware infects a computer, it sends itself out again to other
e−mail addresses found on the computer. The code is then capable of downloading new
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versions of itself as frequently as every 30 minutes from a batch of Websites, said Mikko
Hypponen, chief research officer at F−Secure Corp. However, analysts don't know how the new
code is generated.
Source: http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewA
rticleBasic&taxonomyName=networking&articleId=9004601&taxono myId=16
Internet Alert Dashboard
Current Port Attacks
Top 10 Target Ports
15281 (−−−), 4662 (eDonkey2000), 6881 (bittorrent), 1026
(win−rpc), 13886 (−−−), 4672 (eMule), 6346 (gnutella−svc),
445 (microsoft−ds), 50001 (−−−), 65530 (WindowsMite)
Source: http://isc.incidents.org/top10.html; Internet Storm Center
To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US−CERT at soc@us−cert.gov or visit
their Website: www.us−cert.gov.
Information on IT information sharing and analysis can be found at the IT ISAC (Information Sharing and Analysis Center)
Website: https://www.it−isac.org/.
[Return to top]
Commercial Facilities/Real Estate, Monument &Icons Sector
40. November 01, Associated Press — Woman arrested after Reno hotel fire kills six. A woman
was arrested Wednesday, November 1, on arson and murder charges after a fire swept through a
three−story hotel in Reno, NV's downtown casino district, killing six people and injuring
dozens of others. Police Chief Michael Poehlman said the 47−year−old woman set fire to a
mattress in her room at the Mizpah Hotel. Officials were still trying to determine a motive.
Police estimated that when the fire started, 60 to 80 people were inside the 84−year−old brick
building, a primarily residential hotel that had been recently renovated. The blaze quickly
engulfed the hotel's north wing, which covers most of a city block just east of Harrah's. None of
the downtown high−rise hotel−casinos was threatened, Poehlman said. A few residents jumped
to safety from windows as the hotel burned. Others were rescued by firefighters with ladders
and city workers who were in the area with a cherry picker. About 30 people were injured,
some from jumping. The building's roof collapsed in the blaze. The Mizpah was built in 1922
and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006−11−01−reno−fire_x.h tm
41. November 01, Reuters — Explosive device shatters window at Paypal HQ. An explosive
device blew out a thick, plate−glass window Tuesday evening, October 31, at the Silicon
Valley headquarters of PayPal, the online payments unit of eBay Inc. No injuries resulted when
what local fire officials said was an explosive device shattered a six−foot−square window on
the ground floor of the four−story building in San Jose, CA. The explosion occurred outside a
building exit. Investigators were still trying to determine the nature of the device. "Whatever it
was, it disintegrated," San Jose Fire Department Capt. Jose Guerrero said. About 45 employees
were working in the PayPal offices when the explosion occurred, eBay spokesperson Hani
Durzy said. "We have no reports concerning threats," Durzy said. "We are still investigating
and we are working with local and federal authorities." The PayPal offices, where 1,900
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employees work, were closed Wednesday, November 1, while police conducted an
investigation.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061101/tc_nm/crime_ebay_explosi on_dc
[Return to top]
General Sector
42. November 01, Associated Press — Man arrested for California arson fires; fifth firefighter
dies from burns. Authorities arrested a man Tuesday, October 31, who is suspected of
intentionally starting two wildfires this summer and is considered a person of interest in a blaze
started last week that has killed five firefighters. Raymond Lee Oyler, 37, of Beaumont, CA,
was arrested on two counts of arson related to wildfires in June, the Riverside County Sheriff's
Department said in a statement. Oyler was not named as a suspect in the wildfire that started
last week and roared across more than 60 square miles. Investigators interviewed Oyler on
Friday and then searched his home on Monday, the sheriff's department said. No other details
were released. As part of the investigation, authorities said they sifted through hundreds of tips
and interviewed previously convicted arsonists who live in the Cabazon area. Assisting in the
investigation were the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal
Bureau of Investigation. The reward for information leading to an arrest topped $500,000.
Source: http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006−10−31−socal−fire_x. htm
[Return to top]
DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report Contact Information
DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports − The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report is a daily [Monday through Friday] summary of open−source published information
concerning significant critical infrastructure issues. The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure
Report is archived for ten days on the Department of Homeland Security Website:
http://www.dhs.gov/iaipdailyreport
DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report Contact Information
Content and Suggestions:
Subscription and Distribution Information:
Send mail to dhsdailyadmin@mail.dhs.osis.gov or contact the DHS
Daily Report Team at (703) 983−3644.
Send mail to dhsdailyadmin@mail.dhs.osis.gov or contact the DHS
Daily Report Team at (703) 983−3644 for more information.
Contact DHS
To report physical infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact the National Infrastructure
Coordinating Center at nicc@dhs.gov or (202) 282−9201.
To report cyber infrastructure incidents or to request information, please contact US−CERT at soc@us−cert.gov or
visit their Web page at www.us−cert.gov.
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Department of Homeland Security Disclaimer
The DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report is a non−commercial publication intended to educate and inform
personnel engaged in infrastructure protection. Further reproduction or redistribution is subject to original copyright
restrictions. DHS provides no warranty of ownership of the copyright, or accuracy with respect to the original source
material.
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